


Tertiary Colors

by RudeArry



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reverse Falls, Alternate Universe - Seers, Demons, Imprisonment, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Seer Dipper Gleeful, Seer Mabel Gleeful, Seers, Violent Thoughts, Why is this not an existing tag on a website with 4 million fics?, Wrongful Imprisonment, mentions of injury, unhealthy thought process
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-06-13 00:21:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15352095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RudeArry/pseuds/RudeArry
Summary: Humanity's choice to hunt demons down for observations and experiments was a good enough idea on paper. Of course, that was before they caught the wrong demon, and allowed the wrong seer to speak with him.





	1. Crime

Dark eyes open in reaction to loud footsteps in an otherwise soundless void.  
A fading, silvery apparition comes to a halt.  
"Dear mother," the apparition says, "I haven't much time."  
Dark eyes move to scan the creature.  
"You are fading, little one." responded a hollow voice, carried through the nothing. "Make your request."  
The apparition bowed down slightly before rising again.  
"My existence has come to an end, mother. Please, please protect my child for me."

A heavy hum fills the air.  
"Are you referring to your youngest?"  
"Yes, mother."  
"Very well, little one. I'll see to it that the child is well protected."  
"Thank you mother. For everything." The apparition whispered, before finally disintegrating.  
Dark eyes fall close again, finally releasing welled up tears.

* * *

 

With a loud Thud, another mortal collapses on the floor, only to swiftly be kicked towards the door of the cell. The body didn't seem to cooperate however, rolling only a short distance away, much to the dismay of the cell's current resident. The demon currently occupying the cell - less than thrilled with the outcome of his action - picked the body up with relative ease and threw it angrily towards the door. The dead human still didn't seem to arrive at his destination - but he landed close enough. The demon hissed in that general direction and started pacing. The forcefield his captors have put in place was too much for him to escape.

Well, clearly. It was meant for a stronger demon than himself, after all.

Not that they'd ever put their hands on her.

He made sure of that himself. 

They were nothing but a bunch of stupid, pathetic mortals with too much luck for their own good. It was a mere distraction that led him to this place. A miscalculation on his part, that resulted in a slower reaction than he had hoped for. _Not that it mattered_ , he thought, allowing a small smile to form on his face. A little injury was nothing, and they can't keep him trapped in that force field forever. He's killing far too many of those fools they send to try and study him. _News tend to spread, and they'll eventually run out of volunteers. It won't be long before they'll be forced to resort to another method of-_

The door opened loudly enough to catch his attention. 

Two armed humans enter his cell. He doesn't find that particularly interesting, as they always come in, one to take his latest victim away and one to aim that long-ranged metallic human weapon at him. What was it called again? a rifle?  Not that it mattered, really. Whatever they intended to fire at him was not going to work because, again, he wasn't their target. They prepared human seers and diviners to question him, a demon-repelling forcefield to contain him and silver bullets to off him, _that they haven't used yet because it wouldn't work it didn't work it cannot work why are they so stupid why are they still trying this-_

"Listen, demon, we've had it. You better start cooperating with us, or else-"

"Or else what?" the demon mimicked mockingly, looking up at the guards. Apparently they were now accompanied by some old, disheveled looking human wearing cracked glasses and some ill-fitting white coat with pens sticking out of its multiple pockets. _Ah. The filth-stain in charge of the whole thing. Come a little closer, pest, all of those pens would fit quite nicely between your ribs. That coat of yours is desperately lacking in stains of red-_

"We expect that companion of yours to show up and try get you out. And believe me, we're ready to take her down this time. The less you speak to us, the more she will."

The demon let out a hoarse, empty laugh. "Oh, I'm sure you are. Tell me, mortal, has old age completely warped your mind? Most members of your species fear death above all else, even those whose dying form is in an even worse state than yours. Yet here you are, ever a delusional fool, thinking you can overcome forces you know nothing about."

The old human narrowed his eyes, clearly displeased at the lack of any actually useful information in the demon's little rant.

"Very well. I've already gathered all I need to know." he said, following the retreating guards without throwing a second glance at him.

The demon sat down in the middle of the empty cell, paying no real attention to the dark glass walls or door.

_This was going to be a fun little game._

 

* * *

 

 

He wasn't sure how much later it was when he woke up again, sitting back up from his spot in the middle of the cell. Honestly, the worst part of being injured by the specific type of magic he's been hit with was being locked in the current form he was using at the time. Now a humanoid physical form wasn't the absolute worst thing he'd been forced into - at least there's two of each vital limb, that's a plus - it did interfere with his powers as this form periodically needed sleep to refocus them. Still, it was by special request and he'll be able to fix that as soon as he recovers, so it didn't really matter. It's not like he was going to get stuck in that form for too long anyway.

He looked around, bored. It's probably been a few days since the old human appeared at the door. Usually, he'd love the change of pace, as he generally preferred to be left alone. _No company means no brain-dead morons offering stupid advice, asking stupid question, comparing him to every family member he despised, demanding that he be more like them think more like them act more like them-_

He shook his head, as if trying to shake the thoughts out. His mind was a very disturbing place as of late. He didn't want to entertain his messed up thought process at the moment. He really didn't. He was just inevitably drawn back inwards because he had absolutely nothing to do except sit through his own injury-induced insanity, or pace the cell. He found his hand hovering towards his left shoulder and the gaping hole _left there by those thrice-damned morons and their thrice-damned machines firing concentrated energy beams at such high accuracy-_

He lowered his hand. _No._ That glass was see-through from their end, and he won't give them the satisfaction of watching him wallow in self-pity. He was not a collectible beast in their menagerie, and he refused to act like one.

He got up and started pacing. Oh, how he wished for the humans to send him another one of their diviners or seers. He'd love to drain them of energy once they were done entertaining him with what little original questions they came up with on their own without repeating what they've all been told to ask, almost word for word. He couldn't regenerate his own energy with any methods other than sleep right now but this form also couldn't remain asleep for extended periods of time. He was forced into a corner by lesser creatures, and he felt disgusted.

He was contemplating whether or not he should try to force himself back asleep when the door to his cell opened. The footsteps that followed surprised him somewhat. The last few that were sent in here didn't dare come close to him at all. He smiled, turning to his visitor. It'd either take a complete fool, or the strongest of this world's seers to-

Oh.

_Oh no._

"Good morning to you" the human smiled. The demon flinched.

Something was very wrong here. Brown hair, all-too-confident expression, some mark on his forehead, mostly obscured by the hair, and of course the blue clothes, some backpack, moon emblem on the shoulder and electric blue eyes like all other seers. The human was familiar to him. Too familiar. He could swear he saw that person before. He just couldn't put his finger on _when_. The name was just on the tip of his tongue. He felt a strong feeling of familiarity take a hold of him, refusing to let him harm this person. He was important.  He didn't know how or why, but that human's survival would be crucial later on. He didn't know what was going on, but he felt a surge of memories, just within his reach. _Was this some sort of trick? mercy, perhaps? no. Couldn't be. He had none of that left to spare. It had to be-_

_Wait. Blue?_

"That's not gonna help you", he shrugs, "Artificial pleasantries will not help you get more information from me. They're useless, you may as well drop them."

"I'm not here for information."

_Oh, of course not._

"You're a seer. The humans keep sending seers to me to try to get me talking. You're just their new approach. How can you say you're not here for information?"

"I wouldn't consider myself one of the seers yet." The human states simply.

"I thought seers were supposed to wear grey," The demon countered. "Are you in training or something?"

The human smiled.

"Well, you seem to be fond of blue," the human replied, gesturing to the demon's light blue clothing. "When they asked me to come speak to you, I just tossed a set of these into a bowl with some blue fabric dye." He gestured at his clothes. "I thought it'd make you feel more comfortable. Either way, these look like actual clothes now, not garbage bags."

The demon just stared at him. That was... about the opposite of the reply he has expected. 

"A seer like all the rest, then. Alright, I'll ask you what I asked all of the rest of them - Why are you here?"

"I've been asked to talk to you. And so here I am. And we're having a nice little chat, you and I. Aren't we?"

"Hardly."

The human laughed. _Why is it such a familiar sound? He's heard it before. He's seen this human before. He knows him. He knows his name, his significance, his purpose, he's sure of it. He knows it he knows it he knows it-_

"Relax. I'm not gathering tactical data. I'm not even a fan of this whole mess they forced you into."

The demon hummed.

"So they 'asked' you to come, and you obeyed."

"'Obeyed' is a bit of an exaggeration," he said. "They asked, I accepted."

"And if you were to decline? would they kill you?" the demon found himself asking. How hypocritical of him. Acting all secretive, refusing to give the humans anything that could be perceived as an answer. But as soon as they send him an inexperienced-looking seer, he wastes no time in collecting any and all possible explanations to how they operate. He's aware of this. At least he has an excuse. He's stuck here like a beast in a zoo for all to stare and point at. At least they weren't throwing rocks to get his attention yet.

"Of course not." The human said.

"How dull. What did they offer you, then? Money? Fame? Women?"

The moment he was done asking, the seer started laughing again. It sounded more genuine this time. He wondered what was so funny. Those were the three reasons humans usually come face to face with danger, after all. It was true thousands of years ago, and it was true now. If anything, maybe the seer was laughing because he, too, came to the conclusion that humanity has hardly changed in millennia.

"Women," the seer answered when he finally stopped laughing. "Definitely women."

But those words held no real strength nor conviction behind them. What a shame.  
Regardless, if the seer was playing some sort of game with him, he's more than happy to join.

"Looks like I've done you a favor, then." he answered humorously. "There were quite a few seers sent to me before you. You have no competition now and are welcome to truly choose from the best they have to offer. You're welcome, by the way."

The seer had apparently picked up on where this was going and smiled at him.

"Why, thank you good sir. I shall print and mail you an invitation to my wedding. Where would I be sending it to, mister...?"

The demon smiled. While that wasn't the most clever of attempts, it was definitely an attempt nonetheless. Better that the direct, mechanically repeated questions every seer before threw at him. He found that he couldn't truly hate his current visitor. There's definitely something about this one. Something odd. Something familiar... Something he _knows_. Oh, well, he may as well play along for a little while longer.

"That's quite unnecessary, I'm afraid. I doubt I'll ever be allowed out of my cell again."

"I can ask them to let you out for a day, if you promise to attend."

"Would they trust a demon? More importantly, would _you_?"

The seer pretended to think about it for a moment.

"That would depend on the demon. I mean I know you get bad rep, but at least your kind takes their oaths and promises seriously. So I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to behave."

He paused.

He takes everything back. It _is_ the most clever of attempts so far, and the seer might not be a demon expert - well, as much of an "expert" as a human could be - he _was_ a phenomenal actor. The demon genuinely couldn't tell if that offhand remark was genuine or not. He took a better look at the human. He didn't look like he was deceived enough to feel traumatized or even bitter, but humans _did_ have the nasty habit of disregarding promises and walking away at the most opportune moment for them, usually after they have gained what they wanted and it was their turn to pay up the price for it. He might have to choose his words a bit more carefully.

"I suppose so," he said, "Your kind often feels exempt from the consequences of going back on a promise or breaking an oath. Say what you will about demons, at least we have a shred of dignity."

The human looked like he was no longer comfortable having that conversation. He lowered the bag he brought with him to the floor, opened it and started looking for something. The demon instinctively took a few steps back.

"Oh, can you read English?"

The demon stared at him.

"I have a few books here that I can lend you, if you're interested?"

He kept staring.

"I've been told you've been here awhile now. You must be bored out of your mind, so I got you a few books to read to pass the time. I don't have many with me, but I can bring more tomorrow, if you want anything specific."

"Do you have anything about a group of humans who try to kill or imprison any and all demons they come across?"

The seer looked up and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Uh... I'm pretty sure there's a game series about just that. If media is to be believed, it has demonic influences, too."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah," the seer shrugged, "if this place had any sockets for charging..."

"There's a forcefield," the demon replied.

"I'm afraid it's not very good for charging."

The demon sighed. 

"Fine. What books do you have here?"

 

* * *

 

 

He ended up picking some old looking red, smelly book with its title written in plain, faded black letters. Judging by the smell, it clearly sat in some library for way too long. The human had tried to suggest some "science fiction" nonsense, but the demon has had enough of Science lately and that he wanted nothing more to do with it. The human tried to convince him that it wasn't like that, but he still didn't want any of that to weight on his mind, so the other wisely gave up and just gave him his pick, probably because he knew the demon was stubborn and wouldn't take anything else.

Now the both of them were sitting down as the demon scanned the book's summary and the human looked at some dark electronic device that by the looks of it, was mostly just screen.

"So," the human started, tucking the device back into the bag, "You never told me your name."

"Well observed," the demon replied dryly.

"You said you killed all of the previous seers. I assume you might want to kill me as well. Can't I at least request your name if you do make that choice?"

"You can request anything you want," the demon shrugged, "I'm not going to grant any of them."

The human paused.

"Is this because of the cell?"

"Yes. I can recognize glass when I see it. I know your mortal little friends are out there, watching us. They're watching my movement. I wouldn't be surprised if they have some interpreters working for them, telling them what we're saying right now. I would've shattered this darn thing long ago, but your forcefield is commendable."

The human leaned back, expression unreadable.

"Would you like to know my name, then?"

The demon looked at him with some interest.

"I'm good. There's no need to supply me with information I already have."

The human seemed skeptical.

"Very well, then," he said, getting up to his feet and taking the bag with him.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Have a nice day."

The demon looked up from his book in annoyance, about to throw some remark back, just in time to see the seer sling the bag over his shoulder. It had some familiar emblem. Some sort of colored pentagram, every triangle painted a different color, with an eye in the middle. And then it hit him.

"You too, Dipper Gleeful."

The human paused with his hand on the door handle. The demon could see him raising the hand to his face, as if to cover his mouth in shock.

"Thank you," he fisted his hand and brought it to his lips. "Will Cipher." He faked a cough.

The demon stared after him in annoyance. He couldn't help but respect that seer.

"That's not what they call me," he hissed through gritted teeth, and the irony of the situation was not lost at him. Literally lying through his teeth to a human. How low has he sunk?

"No," the human answered, still into his hand. "But they used to."

As he heard the sound of the door closing, he sighed.

Well, they probably have all the data they need about him. So much for refusing to play along and answer their questions. He knew he should be angry, but he wasn't. He was just tired instead.

Still, for some reason, even if he'd find the energy to try... he had a sneaking suspicion that wouldn't really be able to stay mad at that seer.


	2. Of memories

"Beloved". A bright figure called, Illuminating the darkness.  
The being stepped through seemingly endless void, carrying itself as if it was walking on air.  
 And within that darkness, something stirred.  
"Something terrible has come to pass," the creature continued.   
A small movement came from within the void as a shrouded being nodded its head.  
"She's gone," it whispered. "I know it's my fault... I'm sorry."

"No," the light countered almost harshly, "If you're going to place blame, place it on the both of us."  
"But she lacked immortality," the shrouded one said. "And that's on me."  
"Again, no," the light replied. "She had every chance to claim it. She just chose not to."  
The darkness lowered its head.  
The light creature moved forward, gathering the shrouded being in its arms.  
The dark being did not resist.  


* * *

 

 

"I'll ask again," the demon said, quite impatiently. "How did you _know_?"

The human seer came back the next day, just as he promised. He brought some more books today, none of which sparked the demon's interest, and asked whether or not he finished the one that was given to him the day before. The human had also brought some sort of snack, stacked up in a tube shaped container with a round headed, beady eyed, mustached face at the top of the container, that the demon found ridiculous. He said something about the air to snack ratio that the demon found boring and irrelevant. He refused to eat, explaining that demons generated their own energy and that they have more pressing matters to discuss.

For example, how the seer came to know details about him which the demon hasn't shared with humans before and whether or not he had told this information to the psychotic idiots detaining him here.

"I don't know," the human replied with that artificial cheer in his voice, "How did you know mine?"

"I'm a demon. I have a great deal of knowledge. I know information sensitive enough to cause the complete and utter collapse of entire civilizations."

"Precisely," the seer answered. "So why keep such a small, insignificant detail, when there are more important things to remember?"

He wanted to roll his eyes. This human either wasn't taught the very basics regarding demons and their behavior - necessary information for a seer to know - or he was trying to act witty by feigning ignorance and having everything explained to him. What a ridiculous, annoying creature this seer was. The demon sighed. _Oh well. He might as well entertain the human. For now._

"Any and all information is meaningful to the right person," the demon replied, "for example, any knowledge you may have about me would be valuable to your employer on the other side of this cell."

"In that case, it's a good thing I don't have any information I can share with them" the seer replied, faking a saddened expression. The demon just stared at him, unconvinced.

_Right. The human wanted him to assume that he didn't say anything. Which was ridiculous, of course. It was common knowledge that all human seers were little more government property from birth. They had no real say when they were taken away for exhausting experiments or given a task to perform. If they didn't report all of their findings to their superiors, it would obviously be bad news for them. Whatever gestures he put on display to get the demon to trust him were probably there for the sake of easing him into answering questions sooner. That would be an invaluable move, of course, after the demon had killed so many of the previous seers sent to interrogate him. Honestly, he should kill the seer on the spot. And yet..._

_He finds that he can't._

_He can't even hate the human._

 

"Why did you come back?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know I won't tell you anything, no matter how hard you'll try. So what do you hope to achieve?"

"Nothing," the seer sighed. "I just wanted to have some nice conversations."

The demon narrowed his eyes.

"You know, neither of us is buying that. Why not try the truth?"

"It _is_ the truth!" the seer leaned back, his expression disappointed.

The demon laughs.

"Oh, _but of course it is_. There is absolutely _no_ reason whatsoever for a seer to visit a demon in a weakened state for anything other than a _nice. Exchange. Of pleasantries"_ , the demon spat out, putting emphasis mainly on the last words. He really hoped the human would cut it out already, because it was getting increasingly difficult to resist the urge to either _ignore_ the human or send him _outta here already-_

"Look, I don't know how many seers you've met, but not all of us are monsters," the seer spoke loudly, crossing his arms. "If you've thought that learning about all of the demons being being tracked down, shot at, imprisoned and mistreated for no reason brings me any joy, then you've thought wrong."

The demon looked at him silently for a moment before shaking his head.

"So you are here because you pity me. That's good to know."

"I don't pity you."

"Is that so?"

"It is. Pity is for children. I'm here because you do _not_ deserve to go through interrogations. I've heard you are wounded and I want to help."

The demon hesitated.

"What do you know about the nature of my injury?"

"I know that you've taken serious damage, that you've been here for a few weeks, and that you're losing energy."

He waited for the human to continue.

"Energy as in the essence that keeps your kind alive. It's still contained in this cell, for the most part, but your wounds prevent you from reclaiming it."

_Well, well, well,_ the demon thought. Apparently the seer was either quite trusted here, or he has managed to obtain information without outside assistance. _What else have they told you about me? And what more did you already know?_

"Well, that's fairly accurate. Looks like they did told you a thing or two."

"They have. And I assume the energy thing is why you were attacking most of the seers?"

"Well, it's part of the reason, yes."

The human looked like he wanted to ask a few more things, before deciding against it.

The demon smiled.

"Would you at least let me help you?"

He considered it. He wasn't even sure it would be a good idea. He didn't stay alive for as long as he had by trusting just about anyone immediately upon meeting them. Especially not enemy pawns. Well, it wasn't really the first time he met the seer... Alright, it was physically in the same location and all, but he constantly had a strong feeling that he has met him before. The first time he saw the human, he felt strong tugs on his memories. He definitely knew him from somewhere, but until he could pinpoint where he has known the human from, perhaps he shouldn't be so quick to trust. Then again, it would be against the humans' interest to poison and kill him so soon, but if they had caught the others-

_No! no. They couldn't have. He made sure of that, himself._

_Strange and Dia are safe. They're safe and sound, and maybe they have reunited with seven guardians, which would mean they're well on their way to-_

"Is that a yes? or a no?"

The demon blinked.

"What?"

"You were lost in thought. I've asked if you need my help."

The demon sighed. Here goes nothing.

"Yeah, why not."

 

* * *

 

 

Apparently, there wasn't much the human could find to negate the effects of what amounted to a concentrated burst of corrupted demonic energy, which is what he's been hit with. He briefly wondered what sort of torture the demon - or demons. Actually, that was even more probable - whose life essence they collected have faced to corrupt it into the form they used. He then thought, even more briefly, whether he'd find out for himself. Well, probably. His little back and forth with Dipper wasn't going to last forever, and there's no telling when his captors would grow tired of that.

He hoped he'd have enough power in him to kill himself quickly if it came to that.

In the meantime, a few days have passed and the seer, bless his soul, tried his best to keep smuggling things in what non-transparent juice or coffee bottles he could find, while innocently referring to them as breakfast, indicating that he probably wasn't allowed to bring them at all. The demon, on his part, found it to be quite curious. The human was going out of his way and defying his superiors for him, and he wasn't quite sure why.

He was starting to think that Dipper was sincere in his declaration about wanting to help.

He has also finished reading that book the seer gave him, not without some difficulty. It wasn't that he couldn't read - on the contrary, he could read, write, speak and understand nearly a dozen human languages, thank you very much - the problem was in the written word itself. He was aware, in theory, that the human languages were changing and evolving over time has included their written forms, but in practice... Well, the last time he read a book written by humans, it was just that: written. Hand-written, to be more precise. More modern literary creations appeared to be made... differently. No decorated, fancy letters, no trace of elongated ones either, that used to stand out while reading manuscripts, the capital letters were too small... the whole thing was just weird. The printing press made everything so much duller, in his opinion.

He wanted to ask the human just how in the world has his species tolerated this nonesense-

But every time the human showed up, the more pressing question on his mind was why he was so familiar to him...

Not that he could ask that, of course. That would put the both of them in trouble. The psychopaths on the other side of the glass could hurt the both of them, and the demon couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the seer as well. He felt like he owed him somewhat for his genuine attempts to help.

"So," the seer catches him off guard that day, when he enters quietly and only speaks up after he's standing beside the demon, who was levitating and trying to take a nap.

"Demons _do_ sleep, then."

"A keen observation," The demon quickly lowers himself to the ground, "Now I know why they call you a _seer_."

"And I finally know why they call _you_ a dream demon", the human countered, clearly entertained. "Are you well rested? if not, I can come back tomorrow."

"No, it's alright," The demon said. "I blame the coffee."

"You know, it's usually used for the exact opposite effect."

"Sleep prevention?"

"Prolonged wakefulness."

"That's the same thing."

"Not really. Prolonged wakefulness sounds less... harsh."

"If you say so."

"Anyway," the seer changed the subject, "I didn't know you could levitate."

"Looks like _someone_ skipped demon studies 101"

"Hilarious", came the dry reply, "I meant in your current predicament."

"You wound me, seer," the demon said. "I'm merely dying. Doesn't mean I'm dead _yet_."

The seer smiled, nodding his head.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Splendid. Now, what was it that you wanted?"

"Not much. Just wondering if you finally want another book."

"Just any old manuscript, please. If it's some form of anti-demonic text from a church, all the more power to you."

"Alright. I hope you wouldn't mind if I read them first? maybe I could get some insight about finally getting you to talk."

The demon laughed.

"Be my guest. I doubt you'll find anything useful, though."

The human smiled. "We wouldn't know unless we tried."

"Guess so."

"However, I'm afraid I do need to go sooner rather than later today. Pressing matters and such. I'm sure you know how it is."

"I used to," the demon replied, "Back when I was allowed to live my life."

For a brief moment, something flashes in the human's eyes before the human's usual expression returns. The demon wondered whether this actually happened or he was imagining things.

"Right," the human nods "I trust you'll be fine."

The demon shrugs.

Of course he'll be fine.

 

* * *

 

 

_He hissed as he was kicked to the ground. The stench of salt and the sound of crashing waves was overwhelming in his weakened state. His head was pounding and he couldn't concentrate. There was some yelling from above as he struggled to his feet. He has barely gotten his head off the ground, and he was already kicked again, before he felt crushing weight on his back. He briefly wondered how many of his ribs are done for, and how long he'll be stuck in this form._

_"Step on me?" he heard himself growl, "Really?"_

_"Every higher being is warned not to seek this place", a low voice spoke in a bored tone, completely ignoring his complaint. Great._

_The voice stopped for a moment, either in hesitation or to scan the area, before continuing._  
_"And yet, here you are. you, and that ragtag group of weaklings and mortals you dragged here. Some commander you are, Cipher. You know that those who set foot on this land, don't live to tell the tale. So you brought your minions here to die with you. Like a true coward."_

_Multiple shots were fired from somewhere nearby, and he felt the weight disappear._

_"Actually," a familiar all-too-cheery voice spoke, "he has no 'minions', so I'd suggest you check your sources next time. You know, could save you some embarrassment and all that."_

_Trying to get up, he noticed a hand being extended towards him. He took it._

_"Thank you, Mason."_

_The seer smiled softly at him. "I thought I told you to stop angering the big ones."_

_He shrugged. "They aren't really stronger or anything. They're just old."_

_"Oh, great", the seer rolled his eyes as he raised a weapon to absorb some incoming attack. He looked at the demon and shook his head. "You got us beating up senior citizens. Thanks a bunch, Will."_

_"They should be mummified by now, anyway!" the demon countered, before turning to look at an approaching hoard. Something was roaring in the distance. Something exploded not far behind, releasing debris and a cloud of dust, some of which soon enough found found its way to his lungs-_

 

 

The demon gasped, disoriented, and fell to the ground, shaking. It took him a few moments to collect himself and process what he saw. Looking around him, he found out to his relief _and_ his annoyance that he was back in the cell. He took a deep breath and started thinking. Alright, so obviously that wasn't real. But then again, it didn't happen very often. Not anymore. Not since...

Well, not this century.

He tried to concentrate on what he knew.

One - the visions were back.

Two - they're similar to how they were before.

And three - he finally understood just why Dipper Gleeful was so familiar to him.

_Well, that certainly complicates things._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest apologies. My computer decided to die for no actual reason. Took some time to actually salvage the poor thing.  
> Anyway, I'll be backing up chapters from now on to make sure not to cause more delays.


	3. And minds

It was raining everywhere on the island for the third day in a row.  
The noise would not let her rest, so she emerged from her subterranean home to watch it.  
She'd stay like this for several hours, looking at the horizon.  
Not that there was much to look at, really. Only the usual.  
Clouds and thick fog, as far as the eye could see.  
The rain has been a welcome change.  
And so was the silence.

But like all other good things, it couldn't last forever.   
With a flick of her wrist, a small, blackbird has appeared before her.  
“Tell them the news,” she commanded the creature. “They deserve to know.”   
The bird chirped before spreading its wings and flying, fearless, into the fog.

 

* * *

 

 

Sitting in a cell having troubles falling asleep was annoying in the best of days. In the worst of them? Mechanical whirring from machines doing death-knows-what, right outside the cell were the cruelest, most elaborate and worst practical jokes the demon has been subjected to in the last couple of decades. It's not like he wasn't captured before, it was just that it was never by humans. His own kind used to make the ordeal more painful, no doubt, but at least it didn't consist of boredom, absolute violation of privacy and sleep deprivation all at the same time. It was a truly dreadful combination.

 

And demons weren't exactly hand-crafted to endure it, anyway.

 

Annoyingly enough, it did leave the demon in question more than enough time to reminisce and try to find clues in the past. Or at least, as much of that as he could find when he lacked direct access to a proper platform to examine the past in an objective manner. As far as he could tell from his time in the zoo-cage he was in, the humans outside could only see his actions. They had no real way of peering into his mind, even with help from their professionals.

 

So he tried to remember. And more importantly, to think.

The humans weren't after him. His capture was a foolish miscalculation on their part. This cell was built to withstand enormous power, far exceeding his own. They were trying to get Dia, and had their efforts been successful, the clueless morons would've ended up bringing about the complete destruction of their world and the death of everything in it. Whatever idiot was funding this, they didn't know what they were messing with.

 

Or maybe they did.

 

Maybe they're smarter than what he gives them credit for. Maybe he was currently in the clutches of some nefarious cult of self-hating humans, who were united under the memory of being wronged in the past, and wished to swiftly deliver every last person, creature and plant to the merciful and capable hands of dear mother death by any means necessary.

 

...Oh, he _wished_.

 

No. While it would explain their seemingly unlimited access to seers, It couldn't be this simple. They knew of the princess and they knew enough about her powers to construct this dome of glass and annoyance to drain demonic magic in alarming quantities. He wondered where would all that energy even go. Unsurprisingly, while his mind offered more possibilities than he cared to count, it kept coming back to the idea of some weapon of mass destruction. Humans were obsessed with the idea for the past century or so, if what he was told about them had any truth in it.

 

It would be a shame, of course. And while that was exactly how humanity as a species behaved three or four decades ago when he last came to admire their planet, with two groups locked in some struggle for power, that's not how humanity was, say, five hundred years ago. Alright, they still had many opposing groups wiping each other out, but they probably didn't want to wipe out _all_ of humanity. Or maybe they did. But they didn't have the means- No, they had the means. And they probably always had some sort of blood feud among themselves. Who knows? Overthinking the history of humanity has been a pain. He wasn't sure about anything anymore.

 

At any rate, this didn't matter. He needed to stick to the facts, damn it all! He looked around him again, releasing himself from hovering above the ground. He approached the force field and sat down by it. The cursed thing sounded as if it was hissing at him. He blinked, noticing that the cursed thing glowed brighter now that he was close to it, as if challenging him to attack. Theoretically speaking, the humans could've activated the thing, turned it on full force and killed him in what would've been a very agonizing death. For the sake of objectivity, he was being kept alive despite the humans' lack of clear motive.

 

He wasn't cooperating. Far from it, in fact. He's killed... what, nine seers already? ten? Huh. He couldn't bring himself to care enough to remember.

 

Not that it mattered either. He didn't cooperate with the mortals, he was useless to them in terms of information, and they clearly didn't consider his energy adequate enough to actively collect. As much as he hated admitting it, he was being kept here for one very specific reason.

 

This place was a trap.

 

He was the bait. 

 

* * *

 

 

_"Coming here was your worst idea so far," he complained, floating behind a tall humanoid with an ever so slightly green-tinted skin before landing on her shoulder, as he often did when maintaining his original form. She shrugged before looking around briefly and pulling her oversized black hood over her eyes, effectively forcing him to slide away from the fabric into the small space the humanoid has created around her neck._

 

_"You glow too brightly, Cipher, it's suspicious."_

_"You’re stressed out, Dia. Get it under control. You’re a challenge to be around as it is.”_

_The humanoid shifted uncomfortably._

_“…No offense, of course.”_

_“None taken,” she sighed. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”_

_The humanoid took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. The demon noticed she was shaking, and despite wanting to encourage her, he decided against it, not wishing to disturb the progress she has already started._

 

_If only the times were less dire, he could dedicate more thought to how incredibly horrid their situation was. Dia was a fairly young creature, as far as demons go. At only eight and a half centuries old, demons usually weren’t expected to fight for their lives just yet. They were supposed to be familiarizing themselves with their planet and – if status allowed it – other heavenly bodies in the vicinity. They were supposed to be practicing short distance teleportation and energy preservation. Not living on the run, trying to stop a whole universe from falling into another devastating conflict with its creators. A conflict from which, it might very possibly never again recover._

 

_And yet… through no fault of her own, Dia had both the fortune and the misfortune to be one of the greatest, most powerful beings in all of creation and throughout its history. Even more unfortunately, she was the daughter of two beings from the rapidly decreasing group he could count as his allies... This was a very bad thing when said group had opposite goals from the ones held by most of the truly powerful demons in the universe. Maybe he shouldn’t be this harsh on her. She was still a child, after all._

 

_“Alright. Alright, I think I got it.”_

_The demon checked himself. He was no longer glowing, and some of his fatigue seems to have melted away._

_“Good job, Dia. That’s a tremendous improvement.”_

_"Thanks,” she replied, sounding relieved. “By the way, I still don’t understand why you won’t take a human form already."_

_"It's been three days and you are already exhausting yours. You're practically back to green already" he countered. He took a brief look around him, and pushed aside a green feather from its place among the humanoid's hair._

_"Your wings might be re-emerging soon, too. One oddly-colored individual is odd enough. The two of us? we might get ourselves killed."_

_"You just hate not having access to all of your powers."_

_"Again, my sincerest apologies. Not all of us got the godly powers of creation and destruction as soon as we came to exist."_

_The green humanoid snorted._

_"Never thought you were the "I want unlimited power!" kinda demon."_

_"Oh, I'm not. I just dislike being cut off from what little I do have."_

_"Fair enough."_

_The demon peeked out, checking his surroundings._

_"What has you so stressed, anyway?”_

_She hesitated for a moment._

_“It’s strange. He should’ve been here an hour ago. And we’ve been circling for twice that long.”_

 

_He thought about it for a moment. In his experience, his second-in-command did have the nasty habit of showing up anywhere from days too early all the way to hours too late. It created lots of problems for him in the past, to be honest. While the Soul-demon had good intentions and the ability to gather invaluable pieces of information regarding other forces, camps and enemies in general, he has always been somewhat challenged when it came to the fourth dimension._

 

_“I think the concept of time might be difficult for him to grasp. It’s not a dimension he interacts with.”_

_“Yes, that’s about right. Very peculiar, though. His kind is usually quite good with time.”_

_“He’s always been the odd one out.”_

_“That makes the three of us” the demon hummed._

_The green humanoid nodded, increasingly sullen._

 

_And then he felt it. The sudden wave of fatigue that came with being drained of his powers, leaving him in a state of disorientation. His magic was rapidly leaving him. He clenched his eye shut for a moment and opened it, but the draining was still going. Before he could scold the humanoid, she jumped, panicked, looking at every direction at once. He peeked outside her hood to look what her fright was all about._

 

_He froze, every part of him locked in his place at the overwhelming sense of dread and bitter familiarity._

 

_He had only seen two humans in his field of vision, but he felt the presence of at least three more close behind him. The two he did see were holding grey, gun-like objects with a light bulb of sorts stuck in the middle._

 

_They were surrounded._

 

_He had to do something. He had to-_

 

He feels something being pressed to his shoulder and jumps back, weakly swatting away whatever it was.

Apparently, it wasn't any of the attackers. He briefly registers his altered form, as well as Dipper's presence. If the way the seer retreats it is any indication, the seer probably tried to wake him. The human blinks rapidly, looking as if he had been scorched, and the demon started to feel guilt. The human raises his hands up as if to show him that he means no harm - not that he ever did, though - and the demon tries to force himself to calm down. They stared at each other for a while in what the demon interpreted as a mutual attempt to understand just what exactly happened and what was going on now. Eventually, the demon sighs. It wasn't Dipper's fault.

"I'm sorry" he whispered. Why did he do that? he didn't know.

"It's alright. I shouldn't have scared you. Your eyes were open though, I thought you were awake."

"I was. Just... dealing with memories."

The human hesitated for a moment, but sat down in front of his as he usually did now.

"You've been doing that a lot lately." The seer tells him later that day

He supposes he is. He studies the human wordlessly. Scanning, thinking, memorizing. He considers telling the seer off, but he can't really blame the human for pointing out the obvious. It wasn't anyone's fault that he had a lot of thinking to do and that memories rarely left him alone. He breaks eye contact and looks at nothing in particular.

He can't really blame this human for anything. No matter how much he wanted to.

The demon hummed in response.

The human gave him a sympathetic glance.

_'...And maybe I can help him.'_

The demon slowly lifted his head.

"What was that?"

The seer looked bewildered.

"What was what?"

The demon kept glaring.

"I didn't say anything."

 

The demon leaned back. He tried to focus. To listen to the human's breathing. Quiet, steady and undisturbed. An intake of air, only halfway in, and a quieter exhale. An action so repetitive that the seer's brain has been treating as background information, filtering it out of his consciousness for most of his life. He started to relax just watching the seer and trying to imitate the pace of his breathing. They both sat there, perfectly still, and then-

_'This is getting creepy. He looks like he's probably going to kill me any moment now.'_

As the seer made a movement, attempting to either stand up or move away, the demon quickly raised a hand.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything."

The human stilled for a moment.

_'What just happened here-'_   
_'did he just-'_   
_'Wait, since when can he hear- Wait, was he reading my mind all along?'_   
_'Why is he only admitting to it now?'_   
  


A whole mess of tangled up thoughts and fears seemed to surface at the forefront of the human's mind, increasing in volume and intensity as the human in question looked like he was torn between running and staying where he was, gauging his chances to survive in a fight against an otherworldly monster, probably factoring in the energy-draining force field and any help he can and might get from outside.

The demon lowered his head and raised both hands up above him.

"Dipper, it's ok. calm down. I haven't hurt you so far and I'm not starting now. Relax. _Breathe_."

"What was _that_ -"

"Shh, quiet now. We're being watched," The demon interrupted. 

The human looked at him, shocked.

"It's fine. I'm a dream demon. It's just an ability I have. I'm surprised you haven't been told."

"I..."

The human shook his head, then clasped his hands together in front of him.

"I'm not used to that."

"Which is understandable," the demon said softly. "Now, calm down. You're fine."

The human took a deep breath. He tried to shake his thoughts out, but it was difficult. looked like he'd be happier to be right about anywhere else right now. Anywhere other than inside a glass cell with a demon. A demon that was regaining its ability to read minds, and had a whole bunch of other abilities that the seer didn't know of yet, but was somewhat afraid to find out. Still, he was trying to keep it together. And in his opinion, he was doing a decent job at that.

"Alright," the demon spoke.

_'Now... can you hear_ this _?'_

The seer flinched and shuddered as if tossed into ice water.

_'Oh my god...'_

The demon smiled.

_'I'll take that as a yes.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Delayed.   
>  Again. 
> 
> I'm sorry. Technology is a cruel mistress sometimes.  
> I'd rather not make more promises about future updates. Let's see how it goes from here.


End file.
